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Practice DescriptionDavid Donahue is a Partner in our litigation department. He litigates copyright, trademark, unfair competition, right of publicity, design patent and related commercial matters in federal and state trial and appellate courts. David's practice spans a broad range of industries, including music, film, art, hotels & resorts, luxury goods, and new media, among many others. He also negotiates and drafts commercial agreements relating to intellectual property matters.

EducationUniversity of Michigan (B.A., 1994); St. John's University School of Law (J.D., magna cum laude, 1998); St. Thomas More Institute Scholarship; Kenneth Wang Fellowship; Associate Editor, St. John's Law Review.

ClerkshipsLaw Clerk to the Honorable Joseph M. McLaughlin, Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (2001-2002); Law Clerk to the Honorable Milton Pollack, District Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (1998-1999).

Professional ActivitiesInternational Trademark Association (International Amicus Committee, 2016-present; past member of Internet Committee and Enforcement Committee); Federal Bar Council (Intellectual Property Committee, 2014-Present); Association of the Bar of the City of New York (past member of Copyright & Literary Property Committee and Entertainment Law Committee); Copyright Society of the U.S.A. (past Assistant Secretary, co-chair of Membership Committee, co-chair of Annual Meeting Committee and member of the Board of Trustees); American Bar Association.

AdmissionsNew York StateUnited States Court of Appeals for the Second, Ninth and Federal CircuitsUnited States District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York

SpeakerDavid frequently conducts customized in-house CLE programs for clients on topics of interest relating to copyright, trademark, right of publicity and internet law. Examples of his public speaking engagements include the following: News Flash–Garcia v. Google, Copyright Society of the U.S.A. Annual Meeting, June 9, 2015; Supreme Court–IP Year in Review, New York State Bar Association IP Section Annual Meeting, February 9, 2015; Calculating Damages in Copyright and Trademark Infringement Cases, Nevada Bar Association, IP Law Conference, November 1, 2013; Litigating a Trademark Dispute: Popular Motion Practice Strategies, Association of the Bar of the City of New York, May 12, 2009; Current Developments in Copyright Law: Termination After Superman & Steinbeck, Association of the Bar of the City of New York, March 12, 2009; Statutory Termination of Transfers, Practising Law Institute's Advanced Seminar on Copyright Law (May 12, 2008).

CounselingCounsel leading premium music video and entertainment company on trademark and domain-name matters.

Counsel foundation that owns rights in major works of famous artist on trademark, copyright and right of publicity matters.

Counsel luxury hotels and resorts company on trademark, copyright and right of publicity matters.

Counseled major motion picture studio on issues relating to termination of transfers under the Copyright Act of 1976.

Selected Cases

Coauthored an amicus brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the International Trademark Association (INTA) in support of the petition for a writ of certiorari seeking review of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit's decision in the FLANAX case. In the brief, INTA urged the Supreme Court to grant the petition so that it could resolve a split among various U.S. circuit courts as to whether and under what circumstances a foreign trademark owner who does not use its mark in the U.S. has standing to object to the use and registration of the mark by another in the U.S.

On behalf of Plaintiff Regulatory Fundamentals Group LLC (“RFG”), we and our co-counsel defeated the Defendants’ motion for summary judgment seeking dismissal of RFG’s copyright infringement and copyright management information claims based on Defendants’ use of RFG’s copyrighted works beyond the terms of a limited copyright license. The Court eventually entered judgment in RFG’s favor due to Defendants’ massive spoliation of evidence and awarded RFG attorneys’ fees and costs amounting to $366,099.81.

Represented Defendant Boundless Learning, Inc. (“Boundless”) in a recently settled case in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York brought by three publishers of college-level textbooks in biology, economics and psychology, respectively. The publishers claimed Boundless infringed Plaintiffs’ copyrights in violation of the U.S. Copyright Act and engaged in unfair competition and false advertising under the U.S. Trademark Act by creating free, electronic textbooks for students that covered the same factual concepts and topics as Plaintiffs’ textbooks and were marketed as alternatives to their products.

Represented Plaintiff Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. (“ERB”), owner of all existing copyright and trademark rights relating to the literary works of Edgar Rice Burroughs, including the TARZAN and JOHN CARTER OF MARS series of stories. In the case, ERB claimed that the defendant comic book publishers who were using the marks LORD OF THE JUNGLE and WARLORD OF MARS (among others) for comic book series based on the TARZAN and JOHN CARTER OF MARS stories were liable for (i) trademark infringement and unfair competition under the U.S. Trademark (Lanham) Act and related state laws, and (ii) copyright infringement under the laws of the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands. The parties settled their claims before trial.

The firm obtained partial summary judgment dismissing the plaintiff's entire $5.6 million claim for damages against our client Universal Music Corp. d/b/a Universal Music Publishing Group ("UMPG") in a license dispute concerning a celebrity fragrance for Prince, the famous recording artist.

We successfully represented Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. (ERB)--successor to the famous author of the Tarzan and John Carter of Mars stories--in overcoming an opposition to its application to register the mark JOHN CARTER OF MARS for a variety of toys and games.

Obtained temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction on behalf of plaintiff, owner of the LE MERIDIEN mark for hotels, preventing its licensee from de-branding the LE MERIDIEN hotel in Cancun, Mexico pending arbitration of the parties' license dispute.

On behalf of documentary filmmaker defendants, the Firm successfully defended appeal of lower court's dismissal of plaintiffs' defamation claims for lack of personal jurisdiction. The appellate court also affirmed lower court's dismissal on merits of plaintiffs' claims against codefendants arising out of allegedly defamatory statements in Dateline NBC telecast entitled "Rescue or Ripoff," which investigated whether plaintiff Doug Copp was a hero or had sought to capitalize on the 9/11 tragedy by gaining access to Ground Zero under false pretenses, and by obtaining $600,000 payment from 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund for illnesses supposedly caused by exposure to toxic chemicals at Ground Zero.

On behalf of UMG Recordings, Inc., owner of the world-famous MOTOWN mark and music label, we successfully opposed the applicant's attempt to register MTOWN CLOTHING (and design) as a trademark for clothing.

In a trademark case concerning the ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR mark, the Firm won a motion to dismiss declaratory judgment action against one Ernst & Young ("E&Y") party for lack of personal jurisdiction, and won motion to transfer the action against the remaining E&Y parties and consolidate with E&Y's infringement action in New York, ultimately leading to a favorable settlement for our clients.

Represented Ernst & Young LLP and related entities in dueling declaratory judgment and trademark infringement actions filed on the East and West coasts. Secured a dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction over one defendant and a transfer of the declaratory judgment action against the remaining defendants. Negotiated settlement of remaining claims before trial.

Represented defendant in right of publicity and unfair competition action arising out of defendant's use of a photograph of Albert Einstein in a tongue-in-cheek advertisement for cosmetics product. Negotiated settlement before trial.

We were brought in after the liability phase to represent the defendant in a rare jury trial on statutory damages for copyright infringement. Before we became involved in the case, our client, a nonprofit charitable foundation, was found liable for copyright infringement based on the defendant's use in its Classic Arts Showcase television programming of a short clip from the 1947 movie Carnegie Hall. The plaintiff sought a finding of willful infringement, which would have permitted an award up to $150,000.00. But we persuaded the jury that our client did not act willfully, and the jury awarded only $6,700.00 to the plaintiff. This judgment was cut in half by an award of costs to our client because the judgment did not exceed the Rule 68 Offer of Judgment made on our client's behalf immediately upon our entering the case.

The firm won a trial before the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of plaintiffs De Beers LV Limited and De Beers LV Trademark Limited, owners of rights in the famous DE BEERS mark. Calling the DE BEERS mark "one of the most famous brands in the world," the District Court ruled that the defendants' attempt to use the DE BEERS name to sell diamonds over the Internet was "entirely in bad faith" and accordingly found the defendants liable for trademark infringement, trademark dilution and unfair competition.

In the first judicial treatment of the new termination right enacted in the U.S. Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998, 17 U.S.C. § 304 (d), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the District Court's decision rejecting an attempt by Disney and Clare Milne to cut off client Stephen Slesinger, Inc.'s right to receive royalties relating to Winnie the Pooh. The court held that Milne could not terminate a 1930 grant where the parties in 1983 had mutually revoked that grant and substituted a new one that was not subject to termination for significantly increased compensation to the author's heirs. The firm also represented Slesinger in successfully opposing Milne's Petition for a Writ of Certiorari filed in the U.S. Supreme Court. In February 2007, on the same theory we also successfully obtained a dismissal for Slesinger of an attempted termination action brought by the granddaughter of the illustrator of the Pooh works.

We won summary adjudication on behalf of defendants, The Jim Henson Company, Simon & Schuster, Inc. and Viacom Inc., in an idea submission case brought by two individuals in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Obtained partial summary judgment on Gillette's behalf in this copyright infringement and breach of photography license agreement dispute, resulting in dismissal of plaintiff's request for $15 million in liquidated damages. The parties settled their remaining claims before trial.

Published Works

Supreme Court Rules on TTAB Preclusion

David Donahue and Jason Jones explain the recent U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in B&B Hardware, Inc. v Hargis Industries, Inc. in the May 2015 edition of Managing Intellectual Property.

David Donahue contributes the U.S. chapter to The International Comparative Legal Guide: Copyright 2015

David Donahue contributed the United States chapter to The International Comparative Legal Guide: Copyright 2015. The chapter provides an overview of United States law concerning copyright subsistence, ownership, enforcement and exploitation, among other copyright-related topics. This article appeared in the 2015 edition of The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Copyright; published by Global Legal Group Ltd, London.